Keeping the Learning in Learning Objects

Special Guests

Patricia McGee
NLII 2003 Fellow and Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology
in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio

Patricia McGee is Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio. As director of a PT3 and Microsoft/Innovative Teaching grant, she has contributed to campus-wide technology initiatives. The two successive summer as ASEE Research Faculty with the Joint ADL Co-Lab provided a foundation for her work as a 2003 NLII Fellow studying learning objects. Currently she is leading an ePortfolio project in her college, as well as conducting research about pedagogy within course management systems and institutional learning object development. Patricia earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Instructional Technology from the University of Texas at San Antonio.More > >

Ellen Wagner
Director of Higher Education, Macromedia Inc.

Ellen D. Wagner is director of higher education at Macromedia, Inc., where she sets the strategic direction for global post-secondary education business. Before joining Macromedia, Wagner was chief learning officer at Viviance AG and Informania, Inc. In her previous career, she was a tenured university professor and administrator. Wagner holds a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Mike Kolitsky
Emedia Consultant, nextgenEmedia

Mike Kolitsky is an e-media consultant with a special interest in modeling and simulation in the online biology lab experience. Before retiring, he served as dean of academic computing and distance education at Atlantic Cape Community College. Previously, Kolitsky was a professor in biology and associate vice president for instructional technology at the University of Texas at El Paso. He received his Ph.D. from Temple University.

Summary

Your host, Steve Worona, will be joined by Patricia McGee, Ellen Wagner, and Mike Kolitsky and the topic will be "Keeping the Learning in Learning Objects"

Using Wiley & Edwards definition of a "learning object" as "any digital resource that can be reused to mediate learning" (2002), the NLII has been exploring what needs to happen for teaching and learning to become the sustained center of rhetoric in exploration of learning objects; and in particular, how learning objects relate to deeper learning principles.

An NLII Fall Focus Session on Learning Objects is being held to reflect on the assumptions and practices regarding the use of learning objects in higher education and in other related fields, explore emerging principles for their use for deeper learning, and investigate issues about and attributes of learning objects and the broader management of knowledge.

During this webcast, three of the speakers from the NLII's fall focus session -Patricia McGee, Ellen Wagner and Mike Kolitsky - will tackle the questions: What is a useful conceptual framework and common vocabulary for effectively exploring the issues related to learning objects, in a pedagogical context? What is the potential of learning objects to support deeper learning and how might we approach evaluating learning objects, when deeper learning is the focus? What are the policy issues that may be barriers to the use of learning objects to support deeper learning?

Related EDUCAUSE Resources

• Ellen D. Wagner, "The New Frontier of Learning Object Design" [PDF* 1MB], The ELearning Guild, June 18, 2002. (Ellen will be presenting from 11:15 to noon the day of the focus session).
• Susan Metros, archived EDUCAUSE Live session on Learning Objects
• A developing learning object on learning objects
• NLII Learning Objects key theme page
• Archives of past EDUCAUSE Live! seminars